‘The Lesser Dead’ by Christopher Buehlman – Audiobook Review

The Lesser Dead came recommended to me by a friend. I had never heard of it before but I’m always interested in reading something a friend loved so I gave this one a try – it’s perfect for the month of October, being about vampires, but it was also a fun read!

Title: The Lesser Dead
Authors: Christopher Buehlman
Series: Standalone
Genres: Horror, Vampires, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Goodreads Summary

The Lesser Dead isn’t to be taken too seriously. It’s very campy and pokes fun at so many stereotypes of being a vampire.

The story follows Joey, an old vampire stuck in a 14-year-olds body. This story is told non-linear at points and Joey is an unreliable narrator – he doesn’t know everything he thinks he knows. I’m usually not a fan of unreliable narrators but in this case it was actually pretty fun to hear his thoughts. We’re told upfront he was unreliable, and yet I was still shocked when he was unreliable. How dare!

He goes back and forth between what story he thinks is important to be told at the moment, often going back to previous backstories. Joey also shares how he was originally turned but midway through the story.

This is a little all over the place and it took me a little while to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked and really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. There are twist and turns, and I genuinely never knew what was coming next. It was unpredictable in the best way and I enjoyed this a lot!

This does have actual bloody and gore-y moments though so be warned if that isn’t your thing. I’m not a huge fan of that, but it was never too much that it bothered me, but a forewarning.  Also, the ending of the book has another warning to stop and not to read the Coda. It’s your choice if you continue on, that’s all I’ll say. You’ve been warned by me and by the book.

I highly recommend listening to this audiobook for the pure fact the author narrates this himself and gives Joey a heavy New York accent. It’s funny even to me as a New Yorker! It’s so over the top hysterical at times.

My Rating:

I’m giving this 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4 on Goodreads. If you’re looking for some campy vampy’s (see what I did there) I’d definitely give this one a try! It’s not to be taken too seriously but it has a lot of unexpected moments that took me by surprise in a good way. I enjoyed this journey!